Best of intentions

A quilt gone in another direction. I had intended to make the quilt above. I bought a batik jelly roll with nice rainbow colors. I sorted the colors in to warm and hot. Sewed them together. Cut them into strip and started to sew the strips together when I found that I sewed both of them with the slant going in the same direction. Arg !! I did not want to take out the seams. So I improvised. I cut triangles, sewed them together, cut more triangles and ended up with the following.

Not bad for a mistake. I added the plain border. It is about 38 by 58. A nice lap quilt. I have some leftover angle pieces that I cut into 2 1/2 in strips that I will use for the binding.

This will be the back. A really nice batik with great colors.

Another Quilt Finished - The Story Book Quilt

I finished the Story Book Quilt. It has been done for a long time, but I finished sewing the binding tonight. It is just 4 strips of fabric with sashing, but the bottom strip is the bottom of the ocean, the next strip is the surface, the next the beach and the last the air. I thought it would be a fun quilt to make up stories about the different parts and the animals that were in each part. So that is why I call it the Story Book Quilt.

The quilting is dragon flies. Really cute.

Pillows Finished

I finished the pillows. I took them with me to Cleveland. Got home tonight and put in the pillows. They look great. I quilted the front by just following the seam lines. I quilted the back with random stitching. Made a pocket with overlapping back.

Now I want to make more.

Hexagon Quilt Along

Joined the Hexalong quilt along, here. (Check side bar on my blog) I didn't know what they were going to look like. But I decided to use some batik jelly rolls, above, that I got at Wal-mart.

Sew 2 strips together. Use a 60 degree ruler to get triangles. Put 6 together. And WoW ! How cool is that!

I can't wait to sew them together and see the wonderful results, I hope.

Am I obsessed or What ! ! !

Here they are. The latest quilt tops that I have been working on. They are all rolled up and ready to go to the quilter. I have 4 others that I have to get the backing ready. Then they will get quilted.

Coin Quilt with Moda Birdie

Made with a Honey Bun

1st one made with a Jelly roll from Joann's

Story Book Quilt - I made 2, this is the second. I am sewing the binding on the 1st.

From my stash, fat quarters cut into charms, 8 different patterns.

Same fabric from above just layed out differently.

I am trying to use up my stash. Four of the tops that I have completed are from my stash. That is good.

I just love this. It is my latest obsession. I get immediate statisfaction and instant gratification. I see progress quickly. I am a blog lurker. I check out others stuff and say Oh, my I want one. When I buy fabric and decide on a design, I can get distracted and say 'Is this fabric worthy of this design? or is this one Better?' I just love it. I don't know why I was so indimidated by quilting. Maybe its cause I am older and wiser.

Twist on a Zig Zag

One of my goals is to make my stash smaller. I know that I will never not have one, but I just need to have less. This is one of the reasons that I wanted to start quilting. I used to make my own clothes. But then I got fat and nothing I made fit and I didn't want to learn to fit to the fat. So I stopped making clothes. I did make a lot of vests for a while, and I think that is one of the reasons I have so much fabric.

Looking through my stash, I found some teal/green/blue 1/8 yard cuts, that apparently I bought together. I got the idea for the zig zag quilt from Amanda Jean's site, Crazy Mom Quilts. I wanted to use these fabrics and go from light to dark. So I started preparing the fabric. It took a couple of weeks to get everything ironed and cut into 3" strips. Then I bought a light yellow batik to go with them. I started sewing the strips together and then ran out of the yellow. Off to the fabric store, oh darn! A couple more days went by and finally I got everything cut and sewed.

There are 18 different fabrics. I was able to get 12 cuts from each fabric. With some pieces I got more cuts, I will use them for something else. But the fabric colors blended so well together.

My original thought was to make each row the same color, with the yellow inbetween each color. But, then I slept on it and came up with a better idea. I like the fabrics because they blended so well together, so why not put one piece of each color in a row. I will get the blending on each row.

The green is on the left and the blue on the right with the lighter blending of the two in the middle. It looks really cool. Just the effect I wanted.

I pinned each row together and have each row piled on top of the previous and am in the middle of sewing them together.

Jamie, my son, asked me, "Who are you making all these quilts for?" I responded, "well the little ones will be for babies and grand neices and nehphew, but this one is up for grabs. You could have it." He resonded with, OK, but let's see what it looks like finished." It does look pretty cool!

My first Completed Quilt

YEA! I can't tell you how excited I am to have a finished quilt. I was excited when I got the top pieced and it looked great. I felt good in my hands. All those pieces of fabric cut and sewn to create something different then their origin. Then I was very excited to take it to Sheryl to have her quilt it. I was extermely excited to get it home and have the piece quilted. The feel of the three layers was magical. It felt totally different than just the top. The eyes and hands work together to say, not quite done yet, like taking a cake out of the oven. The cake tester didn't come out clean.

Sheryl did such a nice job. But, OMG, I am, I don't know an adjecitive to describe it, excited. I trimed the quilt the other night. Last night I cut and sewed the binding on the quilt. I sat and watched TV and hand sewed the binding. Seeing the truly completed quilt is magical.  **  I made that.  **  Even though I didn't quilt it, I don't feel that takes anything away from my accomplishments. I made it.

Now, it is finished. Wow. It is going off to my new step grand baby, Liam Robert, who is a 4 weeks old today.

Sheryl and I chose a quilting pattern that is so cute on this quilt. There are so many to choose from. She used a multi colored thread that worked so well with the fabric. It is a jelly roll that I bought at Walmart. I had never bought one, and new to quilting, didn't want to spend a lot of money. So Walmart prices worked well for me. The weave of the fabric is thin. But the final results are great. I have a bunch left and will probably make some matching something, like a pillow or two.

Sheryl quilted 2 baby quilts for me. I will post the other when I get the binding completed. Do you believe that I don't have any fabric that I could use for the binding. Imagine that!

I learned a lot making it and have been inspired to make more. I was intimidated in the past with the complexity of quilts. But have much more confidence in my skills now. I have become motivated to make more. The feel of the finished quilt in my hands is magical. I want more. I want more. The challenge of different patterns. I see one that I like and say I have some fabric that could use that pattern. I already have 6 other tops that I have completed. I need to get batting for them and then off to Sheryl for quilting. I have several more planned and a couple in progress. I don't know if a monster has been unleashed or a productive goddess. I like the latter.

Will wonders never cease...

Caught a item on the Craft Magazine Daily Feed Blitz about Truckers that are knitting and quilting. Wow!
Sewing and Knitting are not Women's work. Check the article out here.
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